By: Katerina Badoova
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020) is by far the best Korean drama of the year. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the best K-dramas of all time!
From the emotion-filled acting and the beautiful cinematography to the gripping story and the heart-warming soundtracks – everything is simply exquisite about this K-drama.
I just want to start off with the chemistry between the two lead characters, which is immaculate. Often in movies or series, whether they are western or foreign, we get to see the chemistry between the main characters slowly build up, but in this K-drama it is instant, from the moment they meet to the moment the show ends.
The style of this K-drama is very gothic and the inspiration behind each episode is taken from famous fairy tales like Rapunzel and Beauty and the Beast.
Although they are children’s stories, we all know they have their dark moments too!
The drama follows Moon Gang-Tae (Kim Soo-Hyun) and his autistic older brother Moon Sang Tae (Oh Jung-Tae), who are constantly on the run because of a dark past that follows them wherever they go. On top of taking care of his brother, Gang-Tae also works at a psychiatric wards as a community health worker no matter where they move.
Because Gang-Tae had to look after his brother from a very young age, he has a lot on his plate and has many repressed feelings that he cannot let out for the sake of his autistic brother.
That is all about to change when he meets Ko Mun-Young (Seo Ye-Ji), a famous author of children’s gothic fairy tales, who also happens to have an antisocial disorder and quickly develops a romantic obsession for Gang-Tae. Mun-Young completely turns Kang-Tae’s life upside down and makes him get out of his comfort zone. He finally stands up to his brother and begins to act however he wants without thinking about the consequences, or how his brother might react. It also doesn’t help that Sang-Tae loves Mun-Young’s books and is her biggest fan. And of course Mun-Young uses that to her advantage to keep Kang-Tae close to her.
Ko Mun-Young is one of those extremely strong female characters that don’t hold back on anything, but also have so much going on in their life.
Despite her dark and traumatic family past, she managed to build herself up to be stronger.
Mun-Young has absolutely no filter and says whatever she wants. She also does whatever she wants to do, makes constant sexual innuendos whenever she is with Gang-Tae, and swears worse than a sailor. On top of that, she has a remarkable taste for fashion and she is hilarious like no other.
The best part about this K-drama is the absolutely fulfilling character developments. All three characters have a lot of demons at the beginning of the show that they are struggling with, but as you watch, you get to see the characters change for the better. Gang-Tae doesn’t repress his feelings anymore and finally becomes happy with his life while doing the things he always wanted to do.
Mun-Young no longer fears her tragic past and she learns to feel emotions other than anger, obsession and selfishness.
And Sang-Tae overcomes his fear and he is finally able to settle down, without having the need to constantly run away from his past trauma.
The show has many visually pleasing scenes, with even more beautiful soundtracks and often uses animated scenes to tell stories.
If you’re into dark, but also very funny shows, with a lot of deep and emotional scenes that will leave you bawling your eyes out, then this one is definitely for you. One moment you’ll be laughing, and the next you'll be crying!
It’s a 10/10 must watch.
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